Eurobites: UK Govt 'Chaotic' on Cybersecurity – MPs

News Analysis Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe 2/3/2017

Also in today's EMEA regional roundup: Proximus digitizes Antwerp's port; BT seeks cybersecurity innovation; Telecom Italia signs movies deal.

The British government has been warned by an influential group of MPs that its approach to cybersecurity leaves a lot to be desired. As the BBC reports, the Commons Public Accounts Committee accused ministers of taking too long to deal with the skills shortage and organizational muddle that is leaving the UK vulnerable to cyber attack. The Committee found that some government departments were reporting thousands of data breaches while others reported none at all, evidence, they believe, of an "inconsistent and chaotic" system.

Belgium's Proximus has teamed up with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Nallian on a digital data platform for the port of Antwerp. According to Proximus, the NxtPort platform will make it possible for a "vibrant ecosystem" of companies, developers and IT players to be created, one that is ready for the Internet of Things and more.

BT Group plc (NYSE: BT; London: BTA) is on the hunt for innovation in cybersecurity, and has launched a competition open to small and midsized companies that have ideas that could help protect the UK's critical infrastructure and keep public sector and business data secure. There are three award categories: cybersecurity; data collection, mining and analytics; and digital innovation. The prize for each award category is £10,000 (US$12,500) plus six months' membership at the TechHub startup space in London. Anyone interested should click here.

Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed a deal with broadcaster RAI that will allow all subscribers to TIMvision, the operator's on-demand TV platform, to see movies on the RAI Cinema/01 list a year after their theatrical release.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading